A little more than three years ago, Ford hired away GM designer Max Wolff from Cadillac to head and reshape the styling direction of its luxury division Lincoln. Now Wolff has been demoted to head of exterior design, the very position he held at Cadillac prior to his move, in favor of new chief David Woodhouse (pictured above). One of Wolff’s accomplishments at the head of the department was the establishment of the new Lincoln Design Studio.

At the time of Wolff’s hire, the unusual move to headhunt from a direct competitor—Ed Welburn might have something to say about that—raised eyebrows in the design community. Those close to Wolff were also concerned about his ability to prevail in the highly political environment at Ford Design, which chief designer J Mays was unable to tame in his 16 years at the helm.

The Lincoln MKC was created under Wolff.

Woodhouse is a veteran who joined the larger Ford family in 1999 under J Mays. The graduate of the London-based Royal College of Art has previously worked for Mini, Land Rover/Jaguar, GM, and Ford. His Lincoln profile gushes: “His passion is to create emotional, truly meaningful, beautiful, contemporary, and transformational designs that impact customers.” In the design community, Woodhouse is regarded as an extremely able and talented designer, and was described to this writer as “a pleasure to work with.”

Woodhouse has his work cut out for him: He needs to establish a coherent styling language beyond a grille and taillamps, something heretofore absent from, say, the MKZ, the MKT, and the next-generation MKS. The leadership change took place in December but only recently seeped out via an Automotive News report.